Online Marketing

Online marketing encompasses a broad range of strategies and tactics, but the overall goal remains the same, attracting new business, engaging with customers and converting more leads to sales. With nearly three billion Internet users, online marketing is the key to attracting new eyes, spreading brand awareness and growing your business online.

Named a top Marketing Blog by Advertising Age, the experts at TopRank Marketing are here to teach you how to become an online marketing master!

Browse our online marketing news and articles to find, tips, guidelines, and current best practices.

At some point or another, we’re all guilty of falling into one fad or another. A fad is something that quickly blows up but is often short lived because people quickly realize that the quality simply isn’t there.

Many brands are in danger of allowing their influencer marketing programs to quickly become a passing fad. Why? Instead of taking the time to build relationships with influencers in a meaningful way, they’re just tapping them on the shoulder when they need something.

Let’s take a step back for a second and look at what influencer marketing programs should be. TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden defines influencer marketing as:

The practice of developing relationships with connected internal and industry experts to co-create content of mutual value to achieve measurable business goals.”

Follow-up Question: What’s even better than learning from your mistakes?

Answer: Learning from other people’s mistakes.

If you’re looking for bad content marketing, it’s a buyer’s market. Every brand is a publishing company now. Some are doing amazing work. Most are…not so much.

While bad content may not be of value to its target audience, it definitely is useful for content marketers looking to improve.

I know it’s no fun thinking about the (sometimes costly) mistakes content marketers make. And I definitely don’t want anyone to feel bad who has made these mistakes in the past. We’re not here to shame anyone; we’re here to do better.

How to Optimize Your Email Production Workflow [Infographic]
This infographic takes a look at the email marketing production processes of over 900 marketers to help isolate helpful tips and tools to help optimize email marketing workflows. Helpful hints include the optimum production cycle, tips for strategy and goal setting, content creation, design and development. MarketingProfs

Google warns it will crack down on “intrusive interstitials” in January
Google has made another bold move on behalf of user experience — cracking down on intrusive interstitials. The platform says that these ads are problematic on smaller screens, like mobile devices. Sites affected are those that show a pop-up, either immediately or after the user has been browsing content for a while, after the user has arrived from search results and those that show interstitials that users have to dismiss to access content, among others. Search Engine Land

It’s no fun to spend a day on the beach creating your dream house, only to have the tide wipe it out.

But if you were planning on moving in with your spouse and kids…well, that would be a problem.

It takes planning and strategy to build something that will stand the test of time. Right now, too many B2B marketers are building their empire–and betting the future of their business–on nothing but sand and water.

If your organization is building without a foundation, you’re not alone. We’ve all seen the stats: Nearly two thirds of B2B marketers have no documented content marketing strategy. So it’s not surprising only 30% say their efforts are effective. It’s time to develop a new blueprint for success.

3 Things Every CEO Should Do to Succeed on Social Media [Infographic]
This new infographic from MDG Advertising illustrates three simple rules for CEOs on social media: Start with LinkedIn, pick a few networks outside of LinkedIn and stick with them, and avoid being boring. Why should CEOs be on social media in the first place? It gives the organization a human face, and it’s a great way to positively impact a company’s reputation. MDG Blog

Influencers: Instagram Is the Most Engaging Platform (Report)
A new report shows that 60% of influencers consider Instagram to be the most effective platform for engaging with their audiences, while only 18% said Facebook was the most engaging. The same study showed that 34% of influencers didn’t think that brands had a realistic understanding of the costs of influencer marketing. SocialTimes

Every year, thousands of high school students head to the track, pool, or stadium dreaming of greatness. Hundreds make it to college-level competition. A handful become pros. But when all’s said and done, just one athlete takes the gold.

Likewise, content marketing has become a highly competitive landscape. Thousands of writers, brands, marketers and entrepreneurs compete day in and day out for attention on the web. But did you know that a single consumer is exposed to thousands of marketing messages every single day? And that 50% of content marketers don’t know what success looks like?

To have a shot at connecting with your audience, you must become a champion content marketer. But what does that look mean?

For those of you born in the 90’s, MacGyver was a TV show starring Richard Dean Anderson and his amazing mullet:

Image via Telestar

Breathtaking, isn’t it? MacGyver was a secret agent who used the power of feathered hair (and an array of improvised gadgetry) to fight the forces of evil. Give the man a paperclip and some bubblegum, and he could make anything from a deadly weapon to a stylish evening gown.

Content marketers tend to be the MacGyver of the marketing world. We may not have the hairdo (or any hair at all, in my case), but we’re used to making miracles with an improvised toolkit.

5 Email Campaign Ideas to Help Increase Conversion Rates [Infographic]
HubSpot reports: “Why is email is the most powerful channel for lead nurturing? Because it’s a one-on-one interaction, and it can be highly personalized based on where a lead is in the buyer’s journey. In terms of engagement, research shows that lead nurturing emails beat out individual email blasts by far.” HubSpot

Facebook Cripples Ad Blockers on Its Site, Gives Consumers New Control Over Ads
Facebook is making it easier for users to determine which ads they are served by allowing them to choose the ads they see based on brand and interest, and giving them the ability to opt out of ads from selected companies. For example, Facebook can tell a user if they’re on a brand’s email marketing list, and they’ll be able to opt out of seeing those ads in the future. AdAge

As the old joke goes, there are two seasons in my home state of Minnesota: Winter and Road Construction. Right now, we are smack in the middle of the latter.

I’m a guy who doesn’t like pony-sized potholes on my streets. So I try to make peace with the endless lane changes, reroutes, and slow-downs. But sometimes it seems like they go out of their way to mess up our routines, doesn’t it?

If you’re a B2B marketer, you may feel similar desperation looking at your marketing channels. It seems like every route between you and your audience is getting blocked or traffic jammed. Organic social visibility is way down: Each Facebook post you make will reach between 2-6% of your followers. A quarter of those who might be interested in your display ads are using ad blockers. Your content can only engage readers if they can find it, and there’s a lot of commodity content clogging the roads.

Well, hello there. I’m so glad you’ve stopped by the TopRank Marketing blog today. I’m pretty sure I know why you’re here — you’ve been searching high and low for the most adorable cat video of the day. Well, here it is:

Okay. Okay. Just kidding. But I really do know why you’re here. You’re looking for a little headline help. And regardless of how you found this blog post today, you believed something valuable, educational and actually on the topic of writing headlines (not cat videos) was waiting for you when you clicked—and that’s all thanks to the headline.

Headlines are arguably the most important aspect of any piece of content. It’s the first thing—and often the only thing—users will read. In fact, 8 out of 10 people read headlines, but just 2 out of 10 will actually continue reading the rest of the content, according to Copyblogger.

The smart and talented Tiffani Allen will return for next week’s roundup. While we wait, let’s dive into what’s been happening in the news this week.

The Future of Social Video: A Brief Look into What’s Next [Infographic]Video. Is there anything it can’t do? First it kills the radio star, and now it’s taking over social media. According to research from Adobe, over half of marketers say video content has the best ROI. If you’re feeling left behind, don’t worry: one out of four marketers and small business owners feel they’re not up to speed on video marketing. Check out the full infographic for a breakdown of video marketing by social media platform. Hubspot

Conversations between digital marketers are always abuzz with the latest, greatest and most innovative content marketing techniques. Everything from different content types, to the newest ways to promote content are never far from their lips.

There is no doubt that content plays an incredibly important role as part of an integrated digital marketing program. And one of the most tried and true content marketing tactics that has stood the test of time is blogging.